Trump Approval Ratings: How Is President Polling Ahead Of 2018 Elections?

With the midterm elections less than 10 days away, President Trump's approval and disapproval ratings take on added importance. Some recent polls may shed light on the relationship between how Americans view Trump and how they may cast their vote on Nov. 6.

An NPR–PBS NewsHour–Marist poll conducted between Oct. 23 and Oct. 25 found that just 39 percent of adults approve of Trump’s job performance, while 53 percent disapprove.

Citing the poll, an NPR article published Friday read: "Roughly two-thirds of voters say President Trump is a factor (either major or minor) in their vote in this year's midterms, far more than said so in 2014 about then-President Barack Obama."

According to poll aggregator Real Clear Politics, Trump has a disapproval rating of at least 50 percent in the last 15 polls. The only poll in 2018 in which Trump had an approval rating higher than a disapproval rating was from Rasmussen Reports in April. Rasmussen Reports tends to lean towards conservatives and has a C+ accuracy rating from FiveThirtyEight.com.

In the last Rasmussen Report, Trump had a 48 approval rating and a 51 disapproval rating.

Democrats are hoping for similar success to the Republican wave in the 2014 election when the GOP gained their largest House majority since 1928. If there is a similarity between the 2014 and 2018 midterms, Democrats could be in for a big victory.

In late October 2014, a CNN/ORC International Poll showed that Obama had a 53 percent disapproval rating — a figure similar to Trump's current rating.

Obama, meanwhile, won the 2012 presidential election with 51.1 percent of the vote, while Trump won the 2016 presidential election with 46.1 percent — a lower percentage than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's 48.2 percent.